Supporting information for secondary admissions

[Wandaaa]

I am applying for secondary schools for DD, the application form asks for reasons to support your application (max 3000 words). It asks for more information if you selected school for medical or social reasons but also says you may tell us of any other reasons to support your application.

I thought applications were based on a strict criteria and I can't find anything to say these reasons are taken into consideration. Do I need to write anything, the school is our nearest school with outstanding results, we live 0.3miles away so would expect DD to get a place.

You don't need to write anything. You are correct that admissions are based solely on the admission criteria. They aren't allowed to make subjective judgements about the strength of your reasons.

Why do they include this box on the form? It gives people the idea that it counts in some way.

The box is there - maybe just to let people vent, and occasionally someone may include something relevant that should be elsewhere, but it is basically useless.

The Admissions Code says they must put this box on the form even though it generally plays no part in the process. As Mummytime says, occasionally someone will put information in there that moves their child to a different admissions category so it has some use. And there are some circumstances where it can be useful, e.g. a social worker who needs to avoid their child going to the same school as families with whom they work. But for the vast majority of cases it is irrelevant.